AN: So, yeah. This is a fan(ish) sequel to Sisterly Love and A Deeper Love, 4 hours from kat of longtails. I just read these fics and was depressed as hell, so i wanted to just whip up something real quick. Like my Loud House fanfictions, this is taking K-On and putting it in one of my original ideas that i used for my short stories, this one being my version of the Celestial Bureaucracy.
Also like my Loud House fics this is kinda lame and waaaaaay to descriptive, but i cant help myself, its just how i write. ^^ In all honesty this fic isnt very good...like at all, mainly because i just wrote it on a whim without planning just now, so dont get your hopes up. Hope some of you enjoy it anyway. :)
When Ui woke up, she was confused. Did she fail? Her insides contorted at the thought. There was no way she could look her sister in the eye after what she did to her. But before her thoughts could drift farther she became aware of her surroundings.
She wasn't laying in a hospital bed. Or back home on the ground like she belonged. She was sitting in...a train station? She looked around multiple times but no matter how often she checked the result was still the same. A train station.
Her breath hitched...or did it? Slowly the girl put her hand to her throat, then up to her nose. It didn't. The realization came immediately. She didn't fail. She succeeded, with flying colours. Though her initial relief soon turned into something else. Somehow, she almost felt worse.
The next thing she did, maybe to distract herself from these emotions, was to explore her new surroundings. She was not alone. In fact, there were a lot of people there with her, all of them in different states of disrepair.
She saw a young girl, not much older than herself, with deep wounds on her wrists. To her left was an older fellow which a freakishly contorted neck. She stumbled through the station, looking at all kinds of different people, though she seemed to be the only one curious enough to look around.
One thing she noticed was that everyone but her seemed to be breathing. But before she was able to properly process that thought the familiar sound of an approaching train caught her ear. Suddenly everyone around her sprung into action. The eerie quietness gave way to loud chatter as people stood up and calmly walked towards the white line.
As she turned around to join them she felt a someone poking her shoulder. She looked back and came face to face with two people.
A young couple probably, both were still wearing what looked to be a school uniform. Ui's eyes drifted downwards and focused on their hands, intertwined so tightly that it almost looked like they were sewn together. "You're new, right?" Her eyes snapped back upwards to look at the young woman's face. She faintly noticed exit wounds on both their temples which seemed to line up with one another.
"Uhm, yeah." She smiled an awkward smile. The couple looked at one another and giggled. "Your very lucky then." The man said and leaned into his girlfriend. "Yes, we have been waiting for this train for years."
Ui looked down and blushed a little. "Timing, I guess." But when she looked up the two had moved on already. As the train stopped and she waited in line to board her thoughts lingered on the couple. Their closeness. Their happiness. They didn't even seem to mind that they were dead. All that mattered was that they had each other. Slowly the old familiar feelings that were responsible for her presence here inched their way back into her heart.
Despite the mass of people it was surprisingly easy to find a seat. As soon as the last passenger entered the doors closed and the train started on its way to where ever they were going. For a while Ui just looked out of the window, looking at the formless white nothing that was on the outside. But the further they were going, the more she became aware of what she had done. Tears started running down her face.
Why? Why had she done it? How will her parents react? What about Yui? Her vision started to blur as she broke down. What about Yui? How would she react? How would Ui have reacted if Yui had killed herself? Did she really think it Yui would take it better? No matter how much she wiped away her tears they were still coming, and they weren't slowing down. She would never see Yui again. She would never hear her laugh. Never see her smile. As the blinding whiteness outside slowly turned black and the other passengers went to sleep Ui was still crying, full of regret, until she passed out from exhaustion.
She didn't know how much time had passed, but eventually she woke up. After rubbing her eyes she noticed that the train was empty and the doors open. Upon exiting the train the doors immediately shut and it drove away, presumably to pick up another batch of poor souls. She took a deep breath and took in the new environment. This was definitely not a train station. It looked more like a convention hall. From the ceiling hung a giant japanese flag, and on the ground there was a fence separating the arrival area from the rest of the hall.
The fence had five doors labeled "Murder", "Accident", "Sickness", "Suicide", and "Other", each of which had a long line of people waiting to be processed. For a minute Ui played with the idea of not doing anything, just waiting, for what she didn't know, but that thought passed quickly and she walked to the "Suicide" line and mentally prepared herself for a long wait. But as soon as she arrived she heard her name being yelled loudly from the front. "Hirasawa, Ui? Hirasawa, Ui, please move to the front of the line." She jumped a bit in surprise, and moved forward becoming more nervous with every step.
Once she reached the top of the line she was face to face with something that wasn't quite human. It had a human form to be sure, two legs, two arms and hands and a head. But the skin, if it even was skin, was a ghostly white and the features were all wrong. She couldn't even describe it it just was...wrong. She had the urge to scream, but at the same time a wave of unnatural calmness washed over her. The thing looked(?) at her and raised a clipboard. "Are you Hirasawa, Ui?" She swallowed, and nodded. "D..did I do something wrong?" He stared(?) at her for a solid minute before making loud unnatural noises that Ui figured must be its version of a laugh.
"No. Well, yes. Suicide is not really what I would call model behavior. But right now? No."
Despite being calm, she still couldn't shake her nervousness. "T..then why was I called to the front of the line?"
"You are under 20 years old aren't you?" She nodded. "It is regulation that humans under the age of 20 will be let through immediately upon arrival. I personally don't see the point of it, but I don't make the rules." Ui was a bit baffled, and apparently her face reflected that. "What? Do you have a problem with what I said?"
She scratched her head and blushed in embarrassment. "No, no, that's not it. This just isn't really what I expected of...well, the afterlife I guess. With the lines and the rules and regulations..." The thing made the guttural sound again.
"Well young lady, it isn't called the Celestial Bureaucracy for nothing."
"...Celestial Bureaucracy?"
"Yes. Expect much more of that in the future. But...for you it may take a while."
The nervousness started getting a hold of her again. "Who...what do you mean by that?.." But if the thing had heard her, it didn't react. Instead it grabbed a stamp, pushed it onto his clipboard and ripped a slip of paper off of it. It held the slip out in front of it and as soon as Ui grabbed it she was shoved past the thing and into the main hall in front of her. "Follow the directions on the ticket and behave." She had a bit of whiplash from the abruptness of it all, but after a couple seconds she caught herself and looked onto the slip of paper the thing had given her.
On the rectangular slip was her personal information. Her height, weight, blood type, favorite and least favorite food and drink, in fact there was way more information on this tiny thing than seemed possible. But the one thing she lingered on was the picture. Its as if someone in this bureaucratic machine was a sadist and delighted in torturing her. Because the picture didn't just show her. It was a photo of her and Yui, her sister giving her a deep hug, cuddling against her cheek to cheek. Both of them were smiling, a little blush on Ui's face. Once again tears ran down her face. She looked to the bottom of the slip. "Death: Suicide, Reason: Love".
She knew that if she didn't do something to distract her she would collapse, like on the train, so with one motion she wiped the tears from her eyes and turned the slip around. To her surprise, there was no information on the other side. Instead, a glowing arrow pointed forwards. For the first time since clearing the line she looked around in the hall. The room had an impossible amount of exits. She turned her head multiple times, but every time old exits were replaced with new ones, some stairs, some ladders, some even slides for the very young kids. The next thing she noticed were the people.
Instead of a mess of people running about like in a mall there was a wall of them just standing there doing nothing. Ui approached one of them, an elderly man in his late fifties. "Uhm, excuse me sir?"
The old man looked at her and smiled. "Yes my dear?"
"I hope I'm not being rude, but what exactly are you doing here?"
He waved his hand. "Ah, don't worry about it, you can ask me anything. Im waiting for someone." He pointed toward the "Other" line. "Someone from over there."
Ui got the implication right away. These were long dead people waiting for their recently deceased loved ones. She hung her head. Of course there would be no one waiting for her. She took her life before anyone could. She was about to turn away when the old man grabbed her shoulder.
"I saw where you came from." He nodded toward the "Suicide" line. Her heart sank. "You're so young...Do you want to talk about it?" In truth, she was conflicted. She opened her mouth to speak, but then simply shrugged. The old man sighed. "How about this: I will ask you some questions, and if you want to answer them, you do that. If you don't, or feel uncomfortable, you don't have to. Is that alright?" Ui looked up at his face, his warm smile, and nodded. "Good. That's at least something, right?" He patted her on the back. "Why did you do it?"
For a while she said nothing, and just as he was about to move on she whispered "Love."
"Love?" He scratched his chin in thought. "Why was that? Did he do something to you? Break your heart?"
She slowly shook her head. "No. That wasn't it. It was...we could've never been together. Society frowns upon love like mine."
Now it was his time to be silent for a moment. "Did you tell her?" She looked at his face in surprise. "Or did you just assume she wouldn't feel the same?"
"She...she couldn't have felt the same. Its impossible. Its unnatural. She isn't a freak like I am."
A deep frown appeared on the mans face."Listen to me for a bit please." She looked up at him intently. "Do you feel like you were coerced into having these feelings?" Ui was surprised by the question, but shook her head. "Do you think someone else forced these feelings onto you?" Again, she shook her head. "So those feelings came from you and only you?" She whispered a quiet yes. "Well then these feelings can't be unnatural, can they?"
She looked down again. "I...i guess."
"And do you really think you are the only one who ever had these feelings? Because if not, then how do you know your girl didn't feel the same? Its far from impossible." She opened her mouth but he interrupted her. "And never, NEVER call yourself a freak again, do you hear me?" She nodded. "Good. Because you're not. You are not." Despite her best attempts she could not stop new tears from flowing. She probably cried more on this day than the rest of her life combined. She felt two large arms drag her into a hug.
"I...I just wish I could see her again! I want to tell her I'm sorry! I want to tell her everything! And even if she rejected me I would still have her around me! We would've gotten past this...I...I made a terrible mistake!"
The old man just listened. He listened until she had nothing more to say, and waited until she was done crying before speaking. "Its okay dear, its okay. There is nothing you can do about it now. But one day...one day you will see her again." He released her from the hug and gave her a handkerchief for her tears. "And once that time comes I am positive that you two can sort it out. Just believe in yourself. And believe in her. If she is half as sweet a girl as you then I'm sure she will understand." Ui nodded, and for the first time in a long long while a genuine smile crossed her face.
Right when she was about to thank him a voice interrupted her. "Am I interrupting something?" She turned around and came face to face with a really old man, 80 years at least, walking on a cane.
"Uhm, no. Can we help you?" she asked, but no one heard her as her friend dragged the older man into a tight embrace. "Oh." And in the blink of an eye, quite literally, she wasn't looking at two old men anymore, but rather two young students in school uniform who looked not much older than her.
The boy who was in the place of her new friend smiled at his partner."Long time no see Sempai. Hope you didn't get into any trouble without me." His partner just smiled and leaned into a kiss that was at the same time completely chaste and so full of passion it was somewhat flustering for Ui. Her friend broke the kiss and looked at her. "Well, he's here now. We have to go now. But remember what I've told you." And before she could say anything the two of them were already gone. She wiped the last tear from her face with her friends handkerchief. She realized then that she didn't even know his name.
Ui gripped the piece of cloth fiercely and with newfound enthusiasm she followed the arrow on the back of her ticket. It changed direction multiple times, but eventually pointed her towards a downwards spiral staircase. After following it she went through a hallway of doors. Every foot there was a door and the hallway seemed endless. But still determined she continued to follow the directions until it came to a halt before one of the doors. It didn't look any different than the other doors, but it was apparently her destination. She opened the door and was faced with an empty barren room. It had barely enough room for her to stand in.
The confused girl double checked her ticket, but sure enough the arrow pointed inside. With a shrug she entered and the door slammed shut. Before she could process that event a voice echoed from the other side. "Ticket." She turned to face the door and noticed a small slit. Without hesitation she pushed the ticket through. "Thank you."
"Um...what am I supposed to do now?"
She heard sounds like files being flipped through. "Nothing. You just stand here and wait."
She raised her eyebrows. "Just wait? For how long?"
This time the reply came immediately. "You're a suicide, yes? We have no place for suicides. So you all get the chance to plead your case to the big bossed themselves. They'll decide what to do with you. The best case scenario would be reincarnation, but you'd have to have a damn good excuse for that. Only 2 percent of people are granted reincarnation in general, and only 0,3 percent of those are suicides. So just don't even bother and go for purgatory."
Ui was a bit overwhelmed with all the information, so the first thing she said was "And how long is that going to take?"
Once again the guttural laugh(?) invaded her ears. "The bosses like to be thorough, and there are a lot of you pathetic creeps to go through, so don't expect your audience anytime soon. Have fun."
"What? Could you give me an estimate at least?" But the thing was already gone. And no matter how much Ui screamed and banged against the door no one would answer.
She didn't know how long it had been. She had stopped counting the days after 4 months. The worst thing wasn't even the boredom. The worst thing was being left alone with her thoughts. All of her regrets. All of her unfulfilled desires. It all gnawed on her day in and day out. So imagine her surprise when she heard a hard knock on the door. "Hirasawa, Ui?"
She immediately threw herself against the door. "Yes?! Yes, I'm Hirasawa Ui!"
Her door was opened abruptly and she fell down onto the floor. Before long she was picked up by something and found herself face to face with one of those things that seemed to run the place. "Someone you know is aboard the train. We have sensed a strong desire to see you again. If you sign over here..." it produced a piece of paper out of nowhere. "You can go and meet them at the Welcome Station." Ui had never signed a piece of paper quicker. She prepared herself for the long walk back towards the hall, but it before she knew it she was in front of the spiral staircase. The hall, or Welcome Center apparently, looked no different than before. But this time she knew where to go.
The thing that led her there pointed at the "Suicide" line. "That's were they'll be. Good luck." And just like that it was gone. Her heart sank. Suicide? It can't be...How long had it been? Was it really her? Or maybe one of their parents? Or a friend from school? She walked towards the wall of waiting people and stared at the line. Now and then she heard the thing yell a name. "Aihara, Makoto. To the front of the line please." She tensed up whenever it happened. She didn't know how much time had passed. She had assumed that the next time she would see her sister was after she died of old age. Or some kind of sickness in her sixties. But with suicide...Who knew who it was? And if it was her sister, who knew how old she had become? She couldn't have died that young, could she? Anyone but her...
"Hirasawa, Yui? Hirasawa, Yui. Would you please come to the front of the line?" These words may as well have been bullets for Ui, because the pain they inflicted was the same. The pain quickly was mixed in with anxiety though, followed by regret, and a tiny speck of happiness. All of these emotions tripled in intensity when Yui came into view. She saw her argue with the thing in front of the line for a bit, but Ui couldn't help but feel that something was strange about her. It became obvious as soon as she received her ticket and was pushed into the hall proper. Right there where Yui's heart was supposed to be was something that didn't belong. Out of her chest stuck a handle. And as Yui came closer and closer it became more and more obvious what it was. She couldn't believe it. With more sadness that she intended in her voice she called out to her sister. "Yui!"
Yui looked around and after a few moments they locked eyes. Another well of emotions rose up inside of Ui. "Hey..." She opened her arms. Not a second later she could feel her beloved sister crash into her. The hug was a bit awkward, partly because of the knife handle sticking out of Yui's chest, but both sisters reveled in it anyway. After a few seconds Yui broke it, much to her younger sisters dismay. But all she did was grab the thing in her chest with both hands and pulled the blade out of her. No blood was flowing, thought the knife was still coated with it. Ui couldn't help but stare at it after this bizarre scene. "Wow, that's my favorite..." But before she could finish her sentence she felt her beloved grip her again, for real this time. And within seconds the knife was forgotten. Ui let her hands roam Yui's back, trying to feel anything she could get her hands on. She took a deep breath to take in her sisters scent.
They stayed in that position for a long time, just enjoying each others company, trying to take in as much of the other person as possible. After what felt like hours, Ui raised her voice first, still in the hug. "Not that I'm not happy to see you but...What..what are you doing here?" She tried to loosen the hug but Yui just pulled harder.
"I came for you, silly."
Tears formed in Ui's eyes. "For me?...But why? You still had so much to live for..."
Her sister shook her head. "Without you? What is there to live for without you?" There was no desperation in the question. It was not meant to guilt her sister. It was a simple genuine question, asked in complete sincerity and that just broke Ui's heart even more.
"The club? The music? Your friends?"
"I...i tried. I really did. But nothing mattered anymore." Yui loosened the hug a bit, just enough so that she could look her sister in the eyes. "The club, the music...no matter what I played it all reminded me of you. I tried everything. I listened and played all genres, but everything just screamed Ui. I...i gave it up after a while."
Now it was Ui's time to strengthen the hug. "And your friends?"
Yui just shook her head. "They tried to help me. They really did. They were really supportive at first. But...i think they just didn't understand. Now matter how hard they tried I just wouldn't cheer up. How could I? I tried to explain it to them, I tried to tell them that it was no use but they just didn't understand. I...i think they took it personally when I tried to follow you..."
Ui just couldn't believe what she had heard. She leaned deeper into the hug, laying her head onto her sisters shoulder. "They took it personally?...How many times did you try?"
There was still no change in Yui's tone. The simple sincerity in her voice drove her sister crazy. "I tried it a lot...The first time I did it they were all there for me. They tried to cheer me up. Azu-nyan... she took it the hardest I think. She was the first one who stopped coming. Last time...last time no one showed up in the hospital. That's when I knew I had to make sure next time...and it worked. You're back. And I'm never letting you go again."
"Im sorry. Im so sorry...I...i just...i didn't think I could live in a world...where you would never love me...never love me like I love you. It was stupid. I should've just talked to you..."
Yui loosened the hug again to look her sister in the eyes. But instead of leaving it at that she, before Ui could react, leaned in pressed her lips to her sisters. "Yes. You really should have."
Before Ui could answer one of the things appeared before her. "You guys can talk later. We have a schedule here, alright? Get going."
The younger sister cupped her beloveds face. "We have to move, alright?. Lets talk on the way." The older sister nodded reluctantly but refused to let go of the hug. "Uhm...Sis? You kinda have to let go or we can't move." Yui just shook her head. "Hey I missed you too, but..."
"No! I said I'm never letting you go again..." With a swift motion she untangled the hug and clung onto her sisters arm like her life depended on it. "...and I meant it!"
Ui sighed, but let a smile appear on her face at the same time. She reached out and patted her sisters head. "Alright then. Lets go."
Before they could make a move though the thing walked(?) in front of them. "Im sorry, but she will have to let go eventually."
"NO! Why?! I just got her back!" Yui started to cry uncontrollably. It reminded Ui of herself when she first arrived. "I can't lose her again!"
Ui faced the thing with stern resolve. "Isn't there any way we could stay together? Any way at all? Im prepared for anything."
The thing scratched(?) its chin(?). "Well...i guess if you want to plead your case together it could be arranged for you to share a waiting room. But be warned: Making your case as a double moves you far far down the waiting list. Also, your room isn't going to get any bigger. And don't think you could use that to make out or something, your faces have to be side by side to fit. Its going to be a very long very uncomfortable wait."
Ui was quiet for a moment. "We are both willing to pay this price. Right?" Yui, to emotional to speak simply nodded.
"Really now? Well...the only thing you can make your case for as a double is reincarnation though. And not only is that a very unlikely outcome, it is also not optimal. Your memories would be gone for a while. They would only return once your reincarnated selves got over the problems that caused you to kill yourself. All that's left would be your personalities. And since your personalities already brought you into this mess, it will probably happen again. You humans never learn. And if your request is denied, or you die again without having solved your problems the only thing that's left for you is one of the hells. I heard the christian one is the most popular right now. Very cruel. You still want to risk it?"
Ui was speechless. Hell? Was it really worth the risk? But her train of thought was soon interrupted by her sister. "Yes. All we need to be happy is each other. So even if we were sent to hell, it would make no difference." She put more pressure on her sisters arm. "We can endure anything together...right?"`
She looked at her younger sister expectedly. Ui wasn't sure before, but seeing the pure and overwhelming love in her sisters eyes steeled her heart. "Yes. That's right."
The thing shrugged(?). "Well, its your immortal souls ladies. Just thought id warn you." And so both sisters followed the vaguely human shaped thing arm in arm, ready to plead their case and accept the consequences of their actions, no matter what may come. Because as long as they were together, there was nothing that could hurt them.
Alex looked at the countdown in her retinal display. Only a couple of seconds left. She looked down at her sister Alexa clinging onto her arm as if she would vanish if let go. Sometimes Alex wondered if she really was the younger of the two. But with twins the difference was negligible she supposed. Nevertheless she was ripped out of her thoughts by the countdown.
"9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1..Happy New Year!" Alex looked down just as Alexa looked up, and both exclaimed in unison: "Happy 4432, America!"
Both of them were tired. Very tired. They had practiced for the band pretty much all day, and barely slept the day before, so it was clear why they felt that way. Maybe it was because of that tiredness that Alexa didn't think it strange when Alex lowered her head and slowly but surely closed the distance between their faces. Though just before their lips met she stopped. "Sorry...sorry, must be the drowsiness. Im just being silly, haha." But as Alex was about the raise her head again Alexa closed the distance. The kiss was awkward at first, and not just because they knocked their teeth together. But slowly it got more heated. Passion overflowed as they both fought for dominance until it slowed down. The second they separated recognition flashed their faces.
They shut off their retinal displays and snuggled against each other. With a quick voice command a blanket materialized above them, and they both readied themselves for a great start into the new year. They had a lot to talk about once they woke up tomorrow. But for now all that was needed was for them to sleep in each others arms.
"Good night Ui."
"Good night Yui."
AN: This pairing needs more fanfics, stat! Please, someone make a fic where Yui writes a lovesong for Ui and play it for the group or something. They are literally the cutest K-On ship, which is why i suck at capturing it with my overly literal writing style. Please, would someone with talent please revive this ship already?!